I have a different theory on why "fear" is growing.... I think fear is being sold by the media and even the 2 party political system. I don't know if its purposely designed that way by some sort of shadow government... or if this phenomena came about organically as a symptom of 2 party politics as each party uses national events to emotionally sell its agenda. But what I do know is that Fear is the ultimate motivator!
Events in grand scale like 9/11 create a ripple in societies evolutionary pathway. If we were headed in one direction as a society before 9/11... that first plane hiting the building certainly knocked us off of our path. The media has instilled so much fear (maybe fear is good for ratings.. or maybe they are being directed to sell us fear) into our society, that collectively, we've voted ourselves into bankruptcy, we've voted away most of our 4th amendment rights and we are empowering enforcement agencies with a blank check to expand their authority and operational limits.
If society seems warped now... whats it going to be like in 10 more years? How about for our kids? At some point we are going to have to stop being scared to get back on course........
I'm not certain that it's "fear" when you have avowed enemies who have successfully completed a coordinated terror attack on our soil; the first known WMD attack by an external enemy on CONUS soil since WWII; rational thinking indicates a higher level of readiness to combat such a threat, especially from a diffuse and diverse enemy not associated with a nation-state which can be pressured or attacked directly.
Our national society has been sliding toward statism for some time; the events of 9/11/2001 caused the slide to increase its rate. It doesn't help that the fear-mongering is coming from all points of the compass. All rational Americans can do is maintain vigilance against tyranny of any form, fight to reverse it where possible, and be prepared to defend ourselves and our families and our neighbors.